Оголовье коня раннеримского времени из могильника Шоссейное (Калининградская область)
Horse Bridle of the Early Roman Period in the Shosseinoye Burial Ground (Kaliningrad Region)

Summary/Abstract: The subject of this paper is horse equipment found in burial no. 34 on Shosseinoye burial ground and dated to the Early Roman time. Owing to almost complete set of horse bridle the authors made its reconstruction and tried to explain functional purpose of some details. It was concluded that this horse bridle was formed as a result of Germanic-Sarmatian contacts during Marcomannic Wars. The authors also suggest that, because some details of the headband seem to be most suitably meant for the battle, and given that similar headbands with forehead shields and U-shaped brackets and other details are massively met on the territory of Germania Libera, their appearance in Sambian-Natangian culture can be connected with the beginning of the military elites. This was conditioned by the Germanic ethnic elements engaged in amber trade, who penetrated into the Baltic environment. Attribution of graves like no. 34 from the Shosseinoye burial ground to representatives of such elites seems to be quite plausible.

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